NASA Names Four International Astronauts For 2027 Mission To International Space Station

NASA’s SpaceX Crew-14 mission is targeted to launch in spring 2027, carrying NASA astronauts Kayla Barron and Chris Birch, JAXA astronaut Makoto Suwa and Roscosmos cosmonaut Arutyun Kiviryan to the International Space Station. The crew will join Expeditions 75 and 76 for a long-duration mission involving scientific research and technology demonstrations intended to support future Moon and Mars exploration and benefit life on Earth. Barron, who will command the spacecraft, is returning to the station after spending 177 days there on Crew-3 and completing two spacewalks; Birch, the pilot, and mission specialists Suwa and Kiviryan are scheduled to make their first spaceflights.
During her earlier ISS mission, Kayla Barron also served as lead robotics operator during a spacewalk. More recently, she worked on developing technologies and operational concepts for NASA’s Artemis program.
Before becoming an astronaut, Chris Birch was a member of the U.S. national team in track cycling. She later earned a doctorate in biological engineering and taught bioengineering at the University of California, Riverside.
Barron’s first ISS flight launched on Nov. 10, 2021, aboard a Falcon 9 and the Crew Dragon Endurance, which docked the following day. Crew-3 departed the station on May 5, 2022, and Endurance splashed down in the Gulf of Mexico the next day.
Crew-14 is SpaceX’s 14th commercial crew rotation for NASA under the agency’s Low Earth Orbit program.
Publishers
13
Articles
14
Reach
27